Friday, June 11, 2010

Chapter 2: Grandfather Mala

In the past, whenever I read the Feng Shui of a person's home, I observed both the visible and the invisible worlds. The invisible world refers to the realm of spirits.

I will divulge a great secret:I was once invited to do a Feng Shui reading for a certain prestigious household in Kaoshing, Taiwan. Once I entered the house, I saw many poverty ghosts occupying the place. These ghosts were the debtors of the owner. I instantly knew that this prestigious person would soon lose his wealth altogether. Indeed, soon afterwards, his business failed miserably.

On another occasion, I visited the home of a poor man in a village to read the Feng Shui of his house. His house was typical of a Chinese village courtyard. I saw lots of spirits, like an army of ants, carrying sacks of golden sand on their backs marching to his house. One by one they entered his house to deliver the golden sand. I knew right away that the family would soon possess great wealth. Eventually, his name became well known and he held a position in the government. His wealth increased astronomically and he became the country's wealthiest man.

These are my experiences of reading Feng ShuiIf debtor ghosts demanding payment surround the individual, he is doomed to fail. If wealth deities surround the individual, he is destined to prosper. Thus, the invisible hand of spirits affects everything.

I once went to a night market in front of a temple for a midnight supper. In front of the temple was an empty lot with a small stall. The stall only sold four items, which were herbal soup, noodle, rice flour roll and green vegetables.

There were many tables around the stall and they were all occupied with customers who were eager to taste the food. It was much like ants after cookies. I opened my divine eye to examine the man running the stall, and what I witnessed was frightening. The open field was filled with more than a hundred patrons visiting the stall, and an equal number of spirits roaming the area. These spirits had swayed the customers to patronize this stall. When the spirits lure one in, one obeys.

The stall was famous for its herbal soup, and the taste was delicious. Every night, the traffic of customers flowed in and out like an ocean tide. His business was so prosperous that his wealth flowed like the running tap water. Someone said that the stall owner smiled while calculating his earnings at home. Another said that the stall owner owned a few apartments and his wealth was measured in the billions.

I paid close attention to the stall owner's facial features. I observed that his face was dark and gloomy, with a sunken nose, tiny mouth, small eyes and hardly any flesh on his face. He certainly did not look like he was a man of great wealth but instead resembled a homeless old man.

I felt there was nothing remarkable about this old man. But how do you explain his wealth? Besides being rich, he had so many spirits helping to lure customers to his stall. The spirits also attended to the customers and cleaned up their tables, and this was quite perplexing.

I suspected that the old man learned how to keep psychic entities to help him. But upon closer observation, though he looked unpleasant, he did not have any negative energy lingering around his body.

From a distance, I looked at the stall and the area of land it was on and observed some glowing beams of red light emerging from the ground, forming a red cloud over the area. This may have explained why the stall was so prosperous. Perhaps it was due to the auspicious Feng Shui of the place. The other stalls did not enjoy the same kind of customer traffic as that one stall did. They were barely surviving to make ends meet. This was indeed interesting.

One day, a certain individual came to seek my consultation. He wanted to find a name for his grandson, and when I looked at him, I realized he was the same old man who ran the stall.I said to him, "Your business is doing very well!""It's just nothing. Nothing at all." The old man said modestly."What's the secret of your good business?" I asked curiously."Luck is on my side!" the old man grinned, exposing his two rows of black teeth."I believe there's more than just luck." I said."Why don't you read the divination for me?" He requested.

The old man wrote down his name, birth date and address.

I made a quick spiritual observation and sensed the sound of a mantra filling the atmosphere, accompanied by the scent of sandalwood. I also saw radiating circles of light, and within each circle stood a Fortune God. This was most astonishing."Do you know how to recite any mantras?" I asked."Nope!" Pan Ji, the old man replied."I heard the sounds of a mantra and smelled the scent of sandalwood. I saw the Fortune God by your side.""Impossible!"

I have helped many in my consultations and have a good track record of accuracy. It was rare to hear someone remark "Impossible." Rather, it was impossible for my divine eye and ear to make a wrong observation. If there was ever any mistake in my observation, I was always able to pinpoint the cause of it."Does anyone at your home know how to chant a mantra?" I asked him."Neither my wife nor my kids know how to chant a mantra." Pan Ji replied."Do any of your other relatives know how to chant a mantra?" I asked."Do the deceased count?""Yes," I replied.

Pan Ji proceeded to tell me, "In my family, only my grandfather Pan Li knew how to chant a mantra. Once, a monk gave my grandfather a string of chanting beads and taught him how to chant the Earth God Mantra. My grandfather recited the mantra for his entire life using the mala[1] . He chanted on it so much that it eventually turned black and became shiny.""Where is mala now?" I believed I had found my answer."My grandfather passed it down to my father, and my father gave it to me, but I don't know where I put it. I think I'll ask my wife to help me find it."

Pan Ji returned home and asked his wife about the mala. She told him, "The mala is tucked away inside a hidden crack at your stall. Nobody was aware of this."

Pan Ji searched and found the mala at the stall. He then took the darkened mala and showed it to me. He didn't know the value of the prayer beads.

I told Pan Ji, "Your grandfather, Pan Li, received protection from the Earth God. This is the result of reciting the Earth God Mantra, respecting the Earth God, visualizing the Earth God, and praising the Earth God."

The Earth God Mantra is usually chanted before reciting a sutra. This is to summon the Earth Gods from the four directions to guard over you while you recite the sutra.

Pan Li spent his entire life reciting this mantra. His sincerity attracted the Earth God to protect him. This mantra is neither from the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas nor the Vajra Protectors. It is not a major mantra, yet it should not be underestimated as it contains amazing power.

If anyone is troubled by spirit entities and recites this mantra, the spirits will retreat and give you their respect.

If anyone contracts illness and recites this mantra, the illness will leave. All pain will disappear and one's health will return.

In the past, I had taught people how to chant this mantra as it is especially helpful for curing several forms of dermatitis such as athlete's foot, chronic dermatitis, discoid eczema, etc. By chanting the mantra, those who have skin-related illnesses should be cured because the Earth God devours the bacteria on the skin.

If one recites this mantra diligently and upholds the Five Precepts and Ten Wholesome Deeds, then one will not fall in to the three lower realms and hell. In fact, one will be reborn in the heaven realm and enjoy utmost bliss and pleasure. The Earth God Mantra is also most effective in terms of accumulating wealth because the Earth Gods and their attendant ghosts will help those who recite the mantra to receive countless fortunes.

Pan Li devoted his life to chanting this mantra and achieved great results with it. The mala had been passed down from grandfather to father, and from father to son. Nonetheless, the blessings followed and were passed down as well. This was simply incredible.

Thus, I wrote a verse:Filled with pleasure while reciting Buddha's epithet and mantra.Now then, one has found the heritage in samsara.Continue to recite sincerely and respectfully.The blessing of Gods and Ghosts will be with one perpetually.

There is another story related to the Earth God Mantra.There was a period when an epidemic swept over Taiwan, and many livestock were killed. I observed many plague ghosts roaming in the wild and biting the animals to death. Owners of many farms had approached me for help.

I studied the constellation of the stars and noted that the Five Plague Gods had descended from the southeastern area of the sky. This meant that an epidemic would sweep the world, resulting in the death of many chickens, ducks, cattle, sheep and pigs.

I was worried.I approached Cheng Huang Bodhisattva , the City Patron Bodhisattva, for help and he said, "This is fate, it is not my demand!" "Even if it is the will of the Heaven, I can not just watch people suffer.""Don't interfere. People's hearts are too corrupted.""How can I have peace in my mind? I have to save the poor souls!" I uttered.

Cheng Huang Bodhisattva said to me, "You, Sheng-yen Lu try to help people everyday, but their suffering is due to their wrong doing. They deserve it! If one day someone hurts you, I wonder if anyone will save you."

I answered, "If someone hurts me, that's my own karma--but looking at all these suffering souls, I really feel for them in my heart."

Cheng Huang Bodhisattva then taught me a method.

Take four sticks of bamboo and chip away the green outer layer. Each stick must be one foot six inches long. On the lunar calendar day, the Accomplishment Day, chop the bamboo sticks. On each stick, inscribe the letters of the Earth God Mantra in either Chinese or Sanskrit.

In the afternoon of the lunar Removal Day , consecrate the bamboo sticks. Recite the Earth God Mantra, 108 times for each stick. The more you recite, the merrier. On the lunar Stability Day, hammer the bamboo sticks on the four corners of the ground of the respective farm.

When this is completed, plague will not touch the respective farm. I taught this method to the farm owners and it worked! Each farm that was lined with the mantra-empowered bamboo sticks was protected from plague. Not even one livestock was killed.

However, many other farmers were unaware of this method and during that year when the epidemic occurred, many livestock died. There was hardly enough time to bury every dead chicken or cattle, and the carcasses piled up high like a hill.

One farm owner relayed this incident to me.

One night, he overheard some conversation that took place outside his farm. However, it was not human beings but plague ghosts who were speaking. A wave of them arrived outside the farm.

One ghost exclaimed, "The light of mantra emanates from this farm. We cannot enter.""What mantra?" another asked."The Earth God Mantra.""That mantra is no big deal. It cannot stop us. Let's go!""No way!""Why not?""The Earth God is after all a righteous god.""We have our orders by the heavenly decree!" the ghost shouted. "But this mantra is empowered by the Living Buddha, Lian Shen, Sheng-yen Lu himself.""Really!"

The ghosts fell silent. One of them suggested, "Let's leave this place! We can feed ourselves elsewhere. Besides the small Earth God Mantra, there's also the Buddha's edict. It's better to leave it alone."

Thus, this bunch of ghosts left the farm.

Let me share this with you. Many wealthy men owe their riches to the help of spirits. Many disasters are the result of mischief from spirits. You see the hand of these entities at work in all of these incidents.

Confucius once said, "Respect the spirit world but keep your distance." This means that the spirit world does exist, but we hardly pay attention to it.

In the Bible, Jesus once expelled spirits and exorcised demons. In the Catholic's instruction for the Exorcistate[2], the 3rd of the Minor Orders , it outlines the rite of exorcism. The 75 year-old Father Amorth is himself a famous Catholic exorcism priest!

The invisible spirits are worthy of our attention!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Footnote1. prayer beads2. The Exorcistate--the 3rd of the Minor Orders is The Order of Exorcist, according to the Traditional Catholic Rite of Holy Orders.